TRAINER Mark Everett will send his talented four-year-old mare Hold Onto Your Hat for a spell following her impressive win at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart last Sunday.
Hold Onto Your Hat produced another brilliant performance to register her fourth win of the season that took her career stake earnings to almost $44,000.
Winning four races in a preparation is no mean feat but Everett was confident from the outset that he had a quality prospect in his midst.
“We had to take our time with this mare because she was only small and very immature as a young horse but we are reaping the rewards for being patient,” Everett said.
“She’s come a long way in such a short space of time so it will be good to send her out for a spell at the top of her game,’ he said.
Everett and his life partner and trackwork rider Vanessa Medhurst prepare a small team at a training complex at Runnymede and while they are not high profile players yet, the trainer’s strike rate is outstanding.
From 27 starters he has prepared five winners for a strike rate of 19% and he also has a 26% placed strike rate courtesy of seven minor placings.
Hold Onto Your Hat made a winning debut in Hobart on Melbourne Cup Day last year after which she was unplaced twice before being given a short let-up.
The four-year-old mare resumed with an impressive win in a strong class one handicap on Hobart Cup day with her stablemate Rome Burns finishing second.
She had no luck at her subsequent outing when fifth behind the highly promising Los Skybo at Mowbray on Launceston Cup day and two weeks later she was just beaten by Heartbreak, Lass under lights in Launceston.
The mare returned to Elwick a month later and scored an impressive win over Reach The Moon in a strong class two handicap over 1200m.
“The mare’s form has been terrific. She’s finished no further back that fifth so her riders have had to weigh in every time she’s gone around,” Everett said.
Turkish-born apprentice Bulent Muchu has partnered Hold Onto Your Hat at her past three outings and the trainer is happy to keep the association going next preparation.
“I couldn’t be happier with how Bulent has handled the mare these past three runs,” the trainer said.
“He’s listened to the instructions and carried them out without flaw and I’m also happy with him in that he is a strong rider and that also suits this mare,” he said.
Hold Onto Your Hat was bred by Dr. Greg Pitt who races her in partnership with Rupert Badcock and John Moore.
The plan is to spell the mare through the winter and bring her back with the prospect of tackling a couple of the feature fillies and mares’ races during the summer racing carnival.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves but if the mare comes back and continues to improve then we might have a crack at races such as the Bowe Mistress and the Vamos Stakes but a lot has to happen before we seriously start to target those races,” Everett said.
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